Keane lashes out at trophy snub

Sunderland put in a performance to match their manager's steely determination and will to win as they secured the Championship title.

Goals in each half from Daryl Murphy, playing against his former club, along with strikes from Anthony Stokes and substitutes Ross Wallace and David Connolly gave them an emphatic win over relegated Luton.

While thousands of Sunderland supporters inside Kenilworth Road celebrated an achievement that had seemed highly unlikely four games and four defeats into the new season, Roy Keane was typically understated.

"It's nice to have something to show for our efforts this season," said the manager, who took over at the Stadium of Light six games into the campaign. "It's finished the season off nicely and if we hadn't have won today, I'd have been pretty annoyed.

"I wouldn't have been happy if we didn't do our job, but we did and we scored some cracking goals as well. That's what's pleased me most. Everyone who came on played their part."

While Keane played down his side's remarkable march to the title, he was more outspoken about the Football League's decision not to award the trophy to his team straight after the Luton game.

"We've organised a function for tomorrow night, where we'll hopefully receive the trophy," he explained. "But to not receive the trophy today is an absolute PR disaster on behalf of the Football League, or whoever it is runs it.

"It's a disgrace, particularly with all the supporters travelling down here and paying all their money.

"They said they couldn't do it because of security issues, but I can't get my head around that. I've been lucky enough to receive trophies at away grounds before, and it's never been a problem."

Bedfordshire police football liaison officer PC Peter Palmer said the Football League had contacted the club on Thursday about the possibility of holding a presentation on the pitch.

"We went to them two weeks ago to ask about it and they said they weren't going to do it," he added. "We would have been happy to organise it then, but for them to come back to us just a few days before the game didn't give us enough notice."

No trophy on parade, but the Sunderland fans didn't seem to care as a powerful performance blew timid Luton away in the first six minutes.

Stokes scored from 14 yards in the fourth minute after a one-two with Murphy, made it 2-0 shortly afterwards with a 25-yard shot. More chances went begging until Murphy tapped home Stokes' cross a minute after the interval. Substitute Wallace's 30-yard piledriver with his first touch made it 4-0 in the 78th minute, and Connolly's flicked header from Grant Leadbitter's free kick crowned the victory three minutes from time.

The performance suggested Sunderland would have something to offer in the Premier League. "It's wrong to go there simply with survival in mind," Keane said. "It won't be easy, but we'll be trying to raise the bar and we'll certainly bring something to the Premier League by the way of good football and our fans."